Jackson Lovell Smith (Jack) passed away the evening of July 24th, at home in the care of his family and hospice. Jack was born February 17th, 1933 in Milwaukie, Wisconsin to James Hueston Smith and Helen Lovell Smith. H grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan where he graduated from New Trier High School in Winnetka in 1950. Following in his brother’s footsteps, he graduated from Dartmouth College in 1954 with a Political Science major. Soon thereafter he accommodated Uncle Sam by serving as a First Lieutenant in the Air Force on a radar site in Galena, Alaska. Having had enough of cold weather and frostbitten ears for over 2 years, he decided to venture to Tahiti for a little R & R. There he met some young men from the States who asked him to join their crew and sail the Pacific for a year on their 36’ ketch. Thus began the adventure of a lifetime with stops in Bora Bora, Mangareva, and Pitcairn Island. He was bitten by wanderlust which remained with him always and precipitated many travels on six continents.
Upon his return from Tahiti he landed in Hawaii where he was offered a job with Dean Witter and was sent to San Francisco for further training, but another profession lured him away. He entered the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law where he found that he very much enjoyed the study of law. He passed the California Bar in 1964, the first of three bar exams in his lifetime.
It was in San Francisco, where he met the love of his life, a girl from Boston named Connie and they were married in 1965 in Sausalito, California. He worked for a year in the Attorney General’s Office and then decided to hang up his own shingle in his parents’ hometown of Louisiana, Missouri. After three years in that hot climate and having become the father of a delightful little girl, Diana, he decided to seek better climes. Jack moved with his family to Colorado Springs in 1971 where he accepted a position with Shepard’s Citations. Soon thereafter he joined the Colorado Springs City Attorney Office where he completed 18 years and then moved on to General Counsel for Colorado Springs Memorial Hospital, where he retired in 2001. Other positions along the way included serving on numerous city boards and committees, teaching medical law for Southern Illinois University with weekend classes on the coast of California and as a member of the American Association of Hospital Attorneys whose goal was to provide better outcomes in hospital administrative law.
Moe than anything Jack loved his family, but the outdoors came in a close second with a love of hiking, climbing, his share of 14ers, and running his July 4th 10k’s in Jackson Hole where he and Connie spent summers watching their grandsons grow. Spring found him on the California beaches renewing his love of the sea and unrestricted running. He and Connie enjoyed 56 years together and many trips to Europe, China, India, Russia, South America, and Africa, proving he never lost his wanderlust. When time allowed he devoured historical books, memorized poetry, and the lyrics of specials songs, and played the piano and his ukulele which endured the rigors of the Pacific crossing.
Jack is predeceased by his parent and his brother, James Hueston Smith of Exeter, New Hampshire. He is survived by his wife Connie, daughter Diana Lovell Welch (Mike), and grandsons Boden and Malcolm Welch; nieces Debora Smith of Woodside, CA and Marlena Thornton of Ayer, MA and nephews Gregory Smith of Woodside, CA and Bryan Smith of Lebanon, NH.
A memorial service will be held at the Broadmoor Community Church in the Meditation Glen at 315 Lake Avenue, Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Saturday, September 18th, at 1pm.
Those of you who might wish to make a donation in Jack’s name, please consider the Alzheimer’s Association, 225 N. Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL, 60601; American Cancer Society, P.O. Box 22478, Oklahoma City, OK, 73123, or Jack’s favorite: St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis TN, 38105, or a charity of your choice.
COMPARTA UN OBITUARIO
v.1.9.5